2007 All-Southern team: STRONG OF THE SOUTH

They want their names to shine bigger and brighter than Tim Tebow and Tom Brady.They want their reputations to loom larger in the Sunshine State than icons Danny Wuerffel and Ken Dorsey.

Simply put, they want to be stars.Jacory Harris and E.J. Manuel, two of the hottest senior quarterback prospects in the country and members of the Orlando Sentinel's All-Southern team, have their sights set on turning around the once-elite Miami and Florida State programs that have fallen on hard times.

Fans chatter about the prolific passers daily on Internet message boards, anointing the quarterbacks as their saviors.

They dull the pain of Miami's tepid play and Florida State's academic woes with talk about Harris' speed and Manuel's strong arm.

Can Harris and Manuel possibly live up to all this hype?

Players and coaches think so, but recruiting analysts are more circumspect.

Harris is oozing confidence.

He led Miami Northwestern to a 15-0 season capped with a 41-0 shutout of Boone for the Bulls' second consecutive Class 6A state championship.

Northwestern also clinched the mythical national title.

Harris, who is 6 feet 4 and 185 pounds, thrived on piloting the Bulls' spread offense.

He passed for 6,365 yards and 86 touchdowns in two seasons.

"There's no question he's the best player we faced all season," Boone Coach Phil Ziglar said. "Usually a quarterback has some kind of weakness. If they throw well, they usually can't run. If they can run, their arm usually isn't as strong. And a lot of them don't make real good decisions under pressure.

"Harris was different. He could do it all. Miami's really getting a solid football player."

Harris is on the mend after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter against Boone.

He told the Miami Herald he only strained his anterior and medial cruciate ligaments, avoiding dreaded tears that could have derailed his chances of playing for the Hurricanes next season.

Harris is graduating from Northwestern this month and will enroll at Miami in January.

This will give him a head start on learning the Hurricanes' offense, which in turn gives him a better chance of beating front-runner Robert Marve for Miami's starting job.

"You can tell Robert Marve I'll be ready to compete with him in the spring," Harris told the Herald when discussing his knee injury.

Manuel speaks of his future with just as much bravado.

While spread offenses are all the rage in high school, Manuel was taught a pro-style offense.

He is still shifty and speedy enough to evade trouble, but he looks to pass first.

Manuel, who is 6-5 and 215 pounds, passed for 1,896 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior year at Bayside High in Virginia Beach, Va.

He has more than 5,800 career yards in four years as a starter at Bayside.

His size, strength and textbook-perfect delivery this season led recruiting service Rivals.com to name Manuel the No. 1 quarterback in the country.

"They are seeing what I've seen for years," Bayside Coach Darnell Moore said. "You can just look at him warming up throwing the ball and you know he has it.

"He has so much raw talent and worked so hard to develop as a quarterback that he really is the complete package right now. If you look up the word quarterback in the dictionary, you might see a picture of E.J. Manuel there."

Manuel will stay at Bayside for the spring semester, but he is following a Seminole conditioning and meal plan to bulk up.

He plans to graduate in June and enroll at Florida State two days later.

"I want to be the guy who puts them back on top," Manuel said. "I know it will take a lot of work, but I can do it.

"I want to send Coach Bowden out on a high note and help Florida State win a national championship."

Allen Wallace, a national recruiting editor at Scout.com, has vastly different expectations of Harris and Manuel.

He has seen hundreds of promising high school quarterbacks, who were preordained college superstars, crash and burn at the next level.

"The quarterback position is so much harder in college," Wallace said. "We thought Jimmy Clausen was a terrific high school quarterback and everyone said he would be a star in college, but he played as a freshman and has been part of the worst Notre Dame football team in 50 years."

Wallace argues Manuel and Harris have a much better shot at success if they redshirt their rookie seasons and are eased into starting quarterback jobs.

"There are Tim Tebows walking around out there, but they're a rare breed," Wallace said.

"It's just impossible to tell right now whether a player will be able to handle all the pressure and be a star quarterback in college."

JACORY HARRISPosition: Quarterback

Size: 6-4, 185

High school: Miami Northwestern

Offense: Spread

College choice: Committed to Miami

Emulates: Vince Young

Stats: Passed for 6,365 yards and 86 touchdowns in two seasons. . . . Led Northwestern to back-to-back Class 6A state titles and helped the Bulls win the mythical high school national championship.

The b uzz: Harris capitalized on his lanky frame to evade defenders in high school, but he needs to bulk up to weather the beating he will take piloting the Hurricanes' offense.

E.J. MANUEL

Position: Quarterback

Size: 6-5, 215 pounds

High school: Virginia Beach (Va.) Bayside High

Offense: Pro

College choice: Committed to Florida State

Emulates: Tom Brady

Stats: Passed for 1,896 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior year, leading Bayside to the state playoffs for the first time in eight years. . . . Passed for more than 5,800 career yards in four years as a starter.

The buzz: Manuel appears to be the complete quarterback package, but he wasn't tested by the best high school competition in the country and it's unclear how he will fare against a college defense.